Archive for the ‘I hate losing’ Category

First off, I will apologize for lack of updates; last Saturday I had previous made plans with friends for a birthday, and all this last week I was serving jury duty.

So what’s been going on? Well, since the last game I updated the Stars are 1-2-1. Great run for the playoffs, guys.

How did it get worse? Heika is now reporting that more than likely, Turco will NOT play in the final home game of the season tomorrow night against the Blue. UM WHAT?! An undisclosed lower-body injure. Are you serious Hockey Gods? What is this nonesense? It is undeserved!

Mike Modano was also on the ticket this morning, saying he is unsure if he will return for the 09-10 season. Why…WHY MO!! Don’t. Leave. Me.

As for a quick recap, the last few games have blown. And that sucks. A lot. To the point that I don’t even want to watch the games. The Stars travel to California today for games against the Sharks, Kings and Ducks.

I myself travel to California Wednesday, and will be in attendence at the Stars-Kings game Thursday at the Staples Center. Cross your fingers it’s a good outcome. Please.

I honestly can’t think of a word to describe the Stars play last night in the 6-1 loss to Detroit last night other than pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.

The Stars wanted to use this game as a measuring stick of the progress over the last month. Well, I would find that impossible. The Stars that took the ice against the Red Wings was not the team that has played together the last month. They weren’t the team that played together, that trusted each other, none of that. I don’t even know what else to say.

Despite the score, it was a good game for the Stars. When going up against the best team in the league, you have to be on top of your game. The Stars managed to keep up, generating great scoring chance after scoring chance. The only problem was that Nabokov was on his game. At some points it looked like he had super stretch powers like Stretch Armstrong.

There were a lot of positives to take from this game. The Stars played together, which was one of their biggest issues in the beginning of the season. Instead of getting frustrated that their efforts were being thwarted by Mr. Stretch, they just kept at it. They kept the Sharks to under 20 shots, which is no easy feat with the way they are playing this season. But Nabokov wouldn’t have it, and pulled it out for his team.

Hopefully the Stars can close out 2008 with a win.

The three stars of the game were

Evgeni Nabokov

Jonathan Cheechoo

Mike Modano

Though, i think Nabokov deserves all 3, well 4 actually, one for each limb.

This was a game the Stars should’ve had, but their special teams still aren’t getting the job done. Despite ample power play time and even a 5-on-3, the Stars fell 5-3 to the Phoenix Coyotes.

It started off good, with Trevor Daley getting the Stars up 1-0 four minutes into the first period. But within the next 5 and a half minutes, they’d be down 2-1, with one of the goals coming off a Phoenix power play. James Neal managed to get the Stars back in the game by the end of the first, by getting what would be the Stars only power play goal in the game.

The Stars took the lead again a little over 8 minutes into the second thanks to Fabian Brunnstrom’s goal. But Olli Jokinen got his second power play goal of the night to tie the game up again. Then in the third period, bad turnovers and bad positioning got the Stars in a 4-3 hole they couldn’t get themselves out of. The Coyotes put their cherry on top by scoring an empty netter with 24 seconds left.

Chris Conner and Toby Petersen had good games, the only bright spots of the night really. Midget had the first multi-point night of his career with 2 assists. Robidas showed, yet again, he is a warrior after taking a puck to the mouth then returning after receiving a few stitches.

You’d have to expect this when the 30th team in the league plays the 1st. Stars got their asses handed to them. Loui Eriksson and James Neal got the only two Stars goals, the only good that came of this game.

I am running out of nice ways to say we lost. This was another close one though. Despite the Flyers taking an early lead, Landon Wilson netted his first goal on the Stars to give the leave the Stars trailing 2-1 after the first period. In the second, Mike Modano bookended a Flyers goal to head into the 3rd period tied at 3. But it was Mike Knuble of the Flyers to give them the 4-3 edge that won them the game, despite Brad Richards having an almost completely empty net. He’s doing what he did in pre-season, he waits and gives the goalie the chance to catch up with the game and make an easy save. That will not win us hockey games.

Also, if anyone might have missed it, Steve Ott is out a month with a broken hand that he suffered in his fight Saturday. Sigh.

Stars are now 3rd to last in the NHL, 2nd to last in the Western Conference and dead last in the Pacific Division. What the hell happened?

Last night against the Kings, it was like the Stars lost all the progress they had made. The score was still only 3-2, thanks in big party to Marty, but the rest of the team looked just like they did at the beginning of the year. No one looked like they were playing with the passion we are used to this team having.

I love my Stars, but I am sick of watching only to be disappointed by not only the score, but the lack of heart.

So, after a full few days to get out my frustration by killing creatures in the computer world, my head is finally clear enough to give my own two cents on what is going on with the Stars. I’m pretty sure every Stars blogger has said something in regards to what is happening with my team.

First off, I’m sure it’s no surprise that I was none too pleased about them reassigning Fistric to the AHL. I dislike that he has become the scapegoat, that both Tippett and Turco felt the need to personally call him out on his mistakes when so many other players are making the same mistakes, and worse. It could be that they expect more out of him than the other young guys on the blue line. But it’s getting aggravating. Most of his mistakes are rookie mistakes, because in my eyes he is still a rookie. He is trying hard to do everything to try to help the team that it ends up hurting us. I do think the time in the AHL will help him though; help him to regain his confidence and work on his game altogether. When he gets in his prime, he will be a fantastic asset to the Stars.

One reason I think I get so angry is the fact that Fistric is not the worst defensemen on the ice, that would go to Matt Niskanen. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate the kid, I think he has the potential to be a great player, but right now he’s not NHL caliber. He was fantastic with Sergei Zubov, but Zubov has the ability to make anyone (or anything) seem like a great d-man. As soon as Zubov left injured, Niskanen’s game fell apart. It’s like Zubov is his crutch, and needing a crutch to play well shows me that he is not ready for the NHL. He needs to be a wall in front of Turco, not only helping to block shots (but not screen the goalie) but to clear bodies from in front of the net. He has a tendency to let people skate right by him, like he’s scared of getting hurt. I mean, I don’t blame him for that, but if it’s going to affect his ability to take the man he is in the wrong business. I think conditioning and some play in the AHL could help him and could help the team. I will give him this, he has a very good shot when in the offensive zone, but his job is to help prevent goals.

Now that I have that off my chest, now to what I think is the real problem with the team right now: chemistry.

With the exception of the playoffs, ever since a certain trade, our team has been less than stellar. That trade is what began the downslide of the chemistry we’d worked all season to get. I like Brad Richards. I really do, he is a fantastic player. But he is not a $7.8 million player. That trade alone has kind of screwed us as far as the cap goes. And frankly, we haven’t even gotten a quarter of our money’s worth. With Richards in the line up, our regular season record is 7-14-3 since signing him. I’m not going to put all the blame on him, because he has done some great things for us, but that trade has affected our team so much. In the trade we lost our very reliable back up Mike Smith(who now has one of the best SV% in the league), Jussi Jokinen and a very valuable penalty killer in Jeff Halpern. Then, this summer the team decided to let Antti Miettinen and Niklas Hagman leave for other teams and sign Sean Avery for ‘grit’. Did Hull and Jackson not see the grit Hagman had when playing? Was I the only one to see the damn laser beams shooting out of his eyes?

This team is almost a completely new team. They are having to rebuild trust with each other and their goalie, and who knows how long that will take with a slump like this. It’s going to be along 6 months.

For the 7th time this season, the Stars allowed at least 5 goals. I don’t even know what to say, to be honest. You know it’s bad when Mike Modano makes a comment such as:

“Tonight, it was idiotic and stupid,” Stars center Mike Modano said when asked what the team identity was. “It was one of the most embarrassing things I’ve seen. If that’s what we’re going for, then they need to find me an office job.”